Emma's Adventure's in Baking and Travels

This last weekend, I got to go to my best friends bachelorette weekend in St. Charles, MO! It's a trip we have all looked forward to for a while. The six of us (five bridesmaids and the bride-to-be), stayed in the cutest Airbnb downtown, which was right above a little ice cream shop.  We arrived Friday night and settled into our Airbnb. Then we went out for pizza and went to a retro ice cream parlor, which was absolutely delicious! After that, we went back to our little apartment and watched a classic romance movie: The Notebook . We played some games related to the wedding and we just talked and had a good time the rest of the night.  Saturday was spent exploring the downtown area after we had a nice brunch. We went to all sorts of cute boutiques and shops, and we also went to a local cookie place that had been on the Today Show! We then went back to our apartment and watched another rom-com: He's Just Not That Into You . Later that night, we took some cute photos to mark the...

Spring break!! As is characteristic with most breaks, it went by wayyyy too fast. I definitely could have used another week. I mostly worked throughout my spring break and got ahead on school work, but I did spend a couple of days at my great aunts lake house in Decatur. My family has come to nickname Decatur "the armpit of Illinois," but the one corner of paradise (or at least the one place we all have fun) in Decatur is my great aunts lake house.  My boyfriend, Evan, and I left on the Saturday spring break began and we met everyone there in the evening. "Everyone" was my mom, dad, and my two little sisters, plus a couple of their friends. Needless to say, I had been looking forward to some rest and fun time hanging out with my family. Evan and I had to leave Sunday evening because we both had work, so it was a quick but restful trip.  On Saturday, my mom made chili. My mom has never really been known for her cooking, but she does make a mean chili. I can't ord...

When you're in a bookstore or shopping online to buy a book, have you ever wondered who gets the money from the sale of that book? There's no definitive answer for the exact amount that goes to those involved with the publishing and distributing of the book. But overall, there is an industry standard.  The first thing you should know is there are three groups that the revenue will go to: The author The publisher Retailers and distributors Most people think authors are given the short end of the straw when it comes to compensation for their work. Although this might be true, publishers aren't the one's getting the majority of the profit, as many people assume. According to Lincoln Michel in his article “Everything You Wanted to Know about Book Sales (but Were Afraid to Ask), "well over 50% of the cover price goes to the retailer that sells books to customers and the distributor who gets the books to retailers" (Michel).  In the world of publishing, there is a t...

In my last blog article, I mentioned two ways of publishing books: self-publishing and traditional publishing. This blog article is going to focus on traditional publishing for the purpose of exploring which publishing companies are the most popular and how their websites attract writers of particular genres.  According to Olivia Smith in the article, "What are the 'Big Five' Publishing Houses?," there are five main traditional publishing houses (Smith):  Penguin/Random House, Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins,                           Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan Although these five publishing houses still hold plenty of hype in the publishing world, it is hard for writers to get published (Smith). Therefore, as I mentioned in the last article, self-publishing rates have skyrocketed in recent years. But still, the Big Five continue to bring in the majority of revenue from book sales.  Penguin R...

When is the last time you picked up a book? Yesterday? Today? A month ago? Maybe you're trying to come up with the last time you picked up a book. Some people might say that with all the other sources of entertainment in our world today, the amount of people reading has gone downhill. That would make perfect sense. After all, life is busy. Who has the time to read for leisure these days anyway? But fortunately, this is false. Books, both electronic and physical copies, are more popular now than ever. This is great news for the publishing industry. But you may be wondering, what is it that keeps the publishing industry alive? Over the years, certain genres have become more popular than others. Therefore, writers hoping to make it big (or at least keep the lights on) need to know what's "in" so that they can survive in the publishing world. The question for these writers is: which genres make the most revenue?  In the article “23 Gripping Book Industry Statistics [2023]...

Got another recipe for ya! And this original is even in the official Emma's Recipes cookbook! Perfect for breakfast/brunch, dessert, or literally anytime anywhere. Basically, there's three layers: the cake, the filling, and the streusel topping. Honestly, I could just eat the streusel by itself, but for obvious reasons involving butter, I will refrain for now. Here's a list of supplies you'll need: 9 x 13 glass or metal pan 1 large size bowl, for cake  3 medium size bowls, for filling, topping, and yogurt/milk mixture Electric whisk or handheld whisk Spatula Measuring cups/spoons Ingredients: Cake: 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 tsp salt 1 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup brown sugar 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp vanilla extract 3 large eggs 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt 1 1/4 cup milk 3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour Filling: 1 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 TBS cinnamon 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder Streusel Topping: 2/3 cups sugar pinch of salt 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 TBS cinnamon 4 TBS butt...